AMONG THE JAPANESE

Otago Witness, Issue 2310, 9 June 1898, Page 47

AMONG THE JAPANESE

Extract ' pbom "A Cape Colonist Abroad," in the Capw Illustrated Magazine. European journals, and even Reuter, who ! ought to know better, persist in duboing his j Majesty '"the Mikado," but as a. matter cf fact the title is almost unknown, certain! v never heard of, in Japan. Unless jn audience be obtained through one of ;h«> •legations at Tokyo, it is difficult for the parsing globe-trotter to get a glimpse of his Majesty. Occasionally Japanese royalty honours a Yokohama racecour*sf. with its presence ; and then there is a free show for j everybody. Great excitement js created as ,i soon as the news i? known, and full panicu ; lars of the route the royal party wiJi take m j passing from tliß station to the racecourse, ; abou* three miles, are published for general ; information. His Majesty is aJ\vay« 1 punctual to ths minute, and Jarg« crowds ; collect- along the linp of route, th* whole | length of wMcb is guarded by the übjquit j ous little policeman. The Emperor gene } rally travels in a closed carriage, which 3s preceded by about a dozen Imperial ijancer* a like number bringing up the rear Inside, his Majesty usually has a companion, in r.h« person of one of his Ministers or the Crown j Prince. The royal party proceeds at a fast [ pace through the streets, arid as ifc passes j along everyone, excepi the ladies, of course, must uncover their heads, and those wh--. have climbed upon an eminence such as a wayside heap of stones or adjacent fence or lamp post are promptly ordered into the roadway until the procession ha? passed No j one is allowed to occupy a position from "which he can look down on his Majesty, and previous' to such an event as an Imperial visit, a courteous note ig sent by the police to the proprietors of all two-storeyed bungq lows or houses along the selected route rei questing them to be careful thai no one ap ! pears at the upstairs windows whilft the ' Emperor is en route. . . . During the I Emperor's stay on the racecourse, he is the j object, of everyone's attention. This does j not prevent him doing Ms duty by the'oham- | pagne basket, a beverage of which he is said to be fond. His Majesty generally makes an early return to Tokyo, and as he drives j away he is greeted, as on his arrival, with ! enthusiastic cheers from the crowd, which iis formed almost entirely of foreigners Evidently the rulei of forty millions of Japanese is as popular with the inhabitants of the Settlement as he is with his own subjects. j A travelling operatic company once visited j Japan, having amongst its repertoire Gilbert '' and Sullivan's " Mikado." But before that old : favourite could be performed in public it had Ito be rechristened, altered, and " cut " until a Savoy habitue would have been unable to recognipe It is difficult to say what "would have been the fate of the players .- the opera had been staged in its original garb. The native public would, I think, of their own accord have lynched them for trifling so sacreligiously with the personality of their Emperor. Most persons know what a Japanese looks like, but a " Jup " abroad and a " Jap '* in bis native habitat are two distinct beings, the difference being mostly in favour of the latter A Japanese, as a rule, is what Europeans would term downright ugly. Jet- | Wack hair, which stands straight up like the I fur of a Persian cat from its having been ■i kept shaved during babyhood, a wrinklecl brow, thick lips and a flattened nose under which may often been seen an incipient moustache Short of stature, with long bodies and short legs)* they walk with a slouching "down-at-heel sort of gait, the result of their peculiar footwear, " getta," -which necessitates the body being held in a forward slanting posture, the feet being dragged along. These clogs are the favourite missiles in a street row, as they can be slipped off the feet at once, and when j they hit their mark — a foreigner's j face — an ugly wound is the result. Th? much-wrinkled brow is due to the absence (until recently) of any kind of head covering, which consequently allows the sun full play on the eyes, causing an almost constant screwing up of the features until the wrinkles become permanent. Nor can the women be called pretty. Here and there pretty specimens may be found, but they are eagerly snapped up for tea-house attendants. With their jet-black hair, quaintly and curiously rolled and twisted, their mincing way of speaking aud walking, their little stooping figure, and their peculiarly tinted skin so complementary in its colour, "they form a tout ensemble as charming as it is picturesque. But it must not be picked to pieces. The little women when with strangers have not much to' say, but amongst themselves they are the most inveterate chatterers. When embarrassed a girl will take down the comb thab is to be found in her headgear and calmly commence combing her hair. Tell her a joke which she can thoroughly understand and she'll simply go into fit after fit of genuine laughter. Sue is inclined to " podge," her bones being always well covered with flesh. If a servant, she moves about your house without any noise, is always cheerful, clean, and the essence of courteous obedience. Scold her, and she looks distressed beyond, measure. .. . ..

The small stature of the Japanese has been the snbj'ect of much research and discussion, c3nd various causes have been assigned to account for their diminutive height. My own idea is that the reason must be ascribed to the foolish habit invariably adopted by all married women as soon as they are about .v become mothers. It is a species of social disgrace for a woman to let the coining eveno cast a shadow before it, and accorduigi * about fche fourth month the mother consults one of the professional accoucheurs of the country who, upon examination, is able to say whether the future child will be v txjy or a girl. If the former, the mother then proceeds no enwrap herself tightly round the abdomen ■with long silken bands of <i white colour. If the sex is pronounced to be that of a, girl, red silken bands are used. The

curious part, of the custom is that the prophecy invariably turns out to be correct. The mother continues to wear these tightly drawn bands until the child is born, their

use serving fo effectually conceal her condi

, tioo ; .i.nd in spite of all hygienic laws, no ill effects seem to result therefrom Whether rbis piucess vi tight robing continued from .'.onera cion to generation has resulted in a short -statured race it. is impossible to say, but tlie theory appears to an uamedica] mind

ntu&e feasible.

Everyone who stays more than a day in Japan should see. a native fire. They are to be had in great abundance svery nighr, in nl] tbe towns and cities of the E! nip ire, f,he average for Tokyo twing three every 24 hours So welJ do the little closely packed houses lend themselves to th^ fiery element that a smalJ fire in a very few moments, li unchecked, assumes oh? proportions of a conflagration There are few fires where less than a dozen buildings are- consumed, whilst extensive districts are frequently destroyed in a. couple of hours. Wherever the heat is most intense wiil always t>e tound the native fireman aptly illustrating the principle of how not to do it-! And the little policemen are there, b ( course — they're everywhere in Japan — looking on placidly and contentedly, occasionally toying with the diminutive hand engines, sent from the police stations in the neignbourhaud on the off-cha-nce that a supply" o' tauter nrUJ be available. The fireman is o great man in his own estimation and that o" his wife, but. he hia no good at putting outfires His usual method of working is to tear up the tiles and roof generally of all buildings adjacent to the one on fire. This plan of operation provides an opening for the falling sparks, which quickly ignite the matted floors beneath ; and so the game goes merrily on. The native fire brigade usually carries a fire god, a- curious-looking object made, of sheepskin, and something similar to a smalJ four-bladed screw propeller. This is borne aloft on a long piece of bamboo, and is planted on some "consjiicuous part of the burning building, or on the roof of an adjoining house, the unwritten Jaw o* the guild being that the men must not forsake their god when it has oilce been thus placed"in position. And with all the fanatical courage of a, Turkish soldier the. firemen often stand by their idol till they perish in the flames. I remember going to see a fire piece at one of the native theatres of Yokohama which had been i-ecommended by a Japanese friend as particularly good. The play occupied the whole of the day, but the acte de resistance necessarily took place after dark, and comprised two scenes — a fire at a distance and then close at hand. The former scene was tame enough, but the latter was exciting, not to say alarming, to a degree.